I don't know the answer to this. But I can't imagine it wouldn't have raised a few eye-brows here in the States.

The problem is, you can't have it both ways. If Admiral Marcus had been a woman, and if the story moves in a way that called for Khan to kill her in a fit of rage for the wrongs he thinks she did to him, then it has to be done. So it comes down to this, does he crush her head or do something "less violent," like vaporize her with a phaser or poison her?

I'm still disturbed by Riker vaporizing Yuta in The Vengeance Factor instead of taking one of the numerous non-lethal options available to him (like say, beaming up her intended target --Fat Road Warrior-- instead of Riker beaming down). That has nothing to do with her being a woman though, that was just because vaporization is jacked up. For that matter, Terrell vaporizing himself to resist Khan and stop the pain of the Ceti Eel in his head was pretty disturbing too, but less so since it was a final heroic act on his part and not a member of the crew straight up murdering someone to stop them from committing an easily preventable assassination. Under those circumstances I would have been fine with Riker tackling her or punching her or kicking her; anything other than sublimating her.

I had forgotten about that. What Riker did was disturbing to say the least and bordered on cold-blooded murder to say the most. That Picard just sat there (or that any of them did) and said nothing as it unfolded is just as bad. Not a very heroic moment for anyone.

It's purely moot, but I guess what I wonder is if the writers would have been wary of a negative audience reaction to having Khan kill a female Admiral Marcus with his bare hands. As a character, I think Khan was despicable enough to actually do it, but the feeling on this board is that it would've been distrubing to the audience, and I agree. But that begs a question. If Adm. Marcus had been cast as a woman, how differently would that bridge scene between Khan and Marcus need to be played out?

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Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. -- Mark Twain